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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28850379">Cosmological Constant</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/wano/pseuds/wano'>wano</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Zero Escape (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>D Family Bonding, F/M, Fire, Fluff and Angst, Gab being cute, Gen, Guns, Mild Hurt/Comfort, references to other timelines, time travel angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:15:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,906</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28850379</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/wano/pseuds/wano</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>They manage to avoid the tragedy in the disposal room, but that doesn’t result in a peaceful ending. Phi confronts her memories.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Diana &amp; Phi (Zero Escape), Diana/Sigma Klim, Sigma Klim &amp; Phi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Cosmological Constant</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i just love the d family so much....You dont understand<br/>this is a bit of a sad one fyi. but you know whats coming later: the self indulgent d-team fluff i deserved<br/>this is how i felt writing this: https://media.tenor.co/videos/a9f4785a30c662a1381160f148da6db4/mp4</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The last thing Zero tells her is enough to make her scream. Her heart is pounding furiously, and the gun won’t even fit in her shaky hands. She can’t bear to see Sigma’s sad blue eyes, filled with desperation and terror.</p><p>“Don’t shoot him! Don’t shoot him, Diana! Listen to me!” Phi’s shouting so loud, with her knuckles pressed against the thick glass, hitting on the window as the muffled sound splits through the tension.</p><p>“Diana.” Sigma’s trying to stay calm, but his voice is shaking erratically. “Listen to me. Pretend I’m the only person in this room. I’ve told you which option gives us the best chances. You know what you have to do.”</p><p>“Oh, <em> fuck </em> you! Don’t force Diana into this! I can’t forgive you if you do this to her! Do you hear me Sigma? Don’t make her do this.” She’s starting to lose her constitution, watching Sigma trapped in the armchair, seeing Diana’s shoulders shake so violently. She tries to still herself. <em> Remain calm. There has to be a way out of this. </em></p><p>“Phi! Neither of us are going to let you die!”</p><p>“And I’m not letting you die!” She responds viciously. “So stop it!” There’s a memory somewhere deep within her mind between the fog brought on by cold sleep. <em> I’ll see you again, sometime, somewhen. </em>And then she remembers the brief warmth of Sigma holding her in that moment, 45 years in the future, one last moment of peace before the world splits apart in front of her eyes.</p><p>But she can’t even hold him, this time, if she dies by fire. Her arms will burn, and what useless things they will become. If she tried to hug Diana and Sigma in her last moments, she would simply collapse into ashes. That’s what breaks her more than the tension of being at the edge of life. She won’t be able to give them the goodbyes that she wants to.</p><p>And Diana simply watches.</p><p>Phi and Sigma keep calling out to her. it’s become an ironic loop of them each begging for the other’s life. The most painful thing to her is how easily they value the others life over their own. It’s not only impossible to make a choice, it’s nonsensical. She loves them both too much.</p><p>Perhaps to escape the terror of the situation, Diana stares down at the gun she’s holding and lets a memory dig itself up from her past.</p><p>
  <em> They wheeled in the next patient. It had been a long day, in a string of many nights she’d spent working late at the hospital. And she hadn’t told anybody it was because she was afraid to be at home. They didn’t have to know. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> They’d brought in a shooting victim before, but this one was different. It was the sheer gore and hell in it. His face was mangled in an expression of pure terror and fear. It hadn’t changed or relaxed from his lack of consciousness. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Although she was exhausted, and she didn’t remember the last time she had slept, she didn’t lose her focus at all during the surgery. Stopping the blood was hard in itself, and the surgeons having to do such a complex operation was worse. The bullet was far too close to the brain, to get it out was an excruciating task, lasting hours. His face never changed. He was frozen into a terrified, everlasting state of horror. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> It wasn’t enough, even when she passed out after the surgery was over and her assistance was complete, it wasn’t enough. When she asked with a strained voice if he was alright, it wasn’t enough. He died in fear and in pain, and nobody could save him, nobody could say he didn’t lie with fear drawn upon him in a permanent paradox of continuously repeating infinity. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> And she saw Sigma there, in that bed, mouth agape, and eyes drawn wide in fear, everything in his face set wrong, the blood trailing off into places it shouldn’t be, organs in spaces they shouldn’t inhabit and feelings all disarray within the mess of human anatomy. It was a tribute to the devastation of the body and soul. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> And that, in itself, nearly broke her. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> So she knew she couldn't shoot. </em>
</p><p>Phi watches her through the tinted glass as Diana pulls away the gun. Sigma’s taken aback, and Phi feels a sigh of relief through the fear and adrenaline.<em> She’s not going to shoot him. Sigma’s going to be okay. </em>And the alarm bells that have gone off that tell her she’s going to die aren’t worth listening to anymore.</p><p>“Incineration in three minutes.” The announcer states for the record.</p><p>Sigma’s yelling at Diana, practically begging her to shoot her at this point, and the only thing that can go through Phi’s head is <em> Why do you care about me over your own life?  </em></p><p>Diana finally cuts in with her own take, shocking them both. “Zero! I can’t possibly make this choice! Let me die instead!” She cries.</p><p>Phi gasps. “No! Are you crazy? Stop it, Diana, this isn’t going to solve anything. I’ve already told you to leave me! Worry about yourself”</p><p>Sigma’s already trying to get out of the chair. He’s desperate. “No, not you, Not you, Diana. Please, don’t do this. Don’t do this.” The expression on his face is heartbreaking.</p><p>“Zero! I know you can hear me!” Diana screams. She’s lifting up the gun, and Phi feels tears at the edge of her eyes and a choking feeling rise in her throat. She’d known Sigma longer, but Diana felt like home in an inexplicable way, and she couldn’t lose her. She couldn’t lose her!</p><p>“STOP!” She’s banging on the door, throwing her own body against it, now past the point of coherence. She’s never felt more powerless. “DIANA! PLEASE!” </p><p>Diana is holding up the gun, and without further hesitation Phi takes what remains of the toolbox, bashing it against the window. Again, again, and again. The loud sound reverberates through the room.</p><p>“Diana, Zero won’t listen to you! If you die here, then none of us are going to be saved! Listen, you’re better than just throwing down your life and dying!  Let us have at least fought like hell to live!” </p><p>Sigma’s eyes widened at her words. He’s trying to get out of the chair again.</p><p>Diana looks up at her. Suddenly, despair turns into a realization. And then she has an idea. “Phi, I need you to step away from the window.” </p><p>And the other girl doesn’t really understand what she’s doing, but she steps away. There are still tears rolling down her face. She grits her teeth and rubs her sleeve against her face.</p><p>Diana holds the gun up, but she isn’t quite able to still it. She’s shaking like a leaf.</p><p>The announcer speaks again. “Incineration in two minutes.”</p><p>“Hurry.” Sigma urges.</p><p>A gunshot pierces through the thick glass.</p><p>Phi wants to tell her again. <em> You don’t have to worry about me. Just focus on getting out alive. </em>But she already realizes those words will fall on deaf ears. And Diana’s bashing in the empty glass with the edge of the gun, so she takes the remainder of the toolbox and continues to hit the window, and Sigma doesn’t think he remembers how to breathe. </p><p>The announcer speaks again. “One minute until incineration.”</p><p>All Sigma can do is watch as they desperately try to break the window. It’s only cracked slightly, despite their effort, and it’s killing Sigma that he can’t do a single thing to help.</p><p>“Diana, that’s enough,” Phi says, heaving, holding the heavy toolbox between her hands. </p><p>“No! You told me I had to keep fighting! I can’t lose you, Phi…”</p><p>It breaks her to say it. “If you’re too close to the window while the incinerator goes, you’re going to be burned.” </p><p>“I don’t care.” She says, tears in her eyes. “I don’t care!” </p><p><em> We have less than a minute left. I’ll protect her when the fire starts. </em>If it was the last thing she did, then certainly it would be a good way to go. She hadn’t known Diana long, but she was so important to her. That smile of hers made her feel hope. In the worst of situations, It was Diana’s kindness that made her feel like she could keep moving forward.</p><p>But they were simply out of time.</p><p>“I won’t forget you.” She sobs. </p><p>“Sigma, Diana, I love you.”</p><p>The world blares white.</p><p>Sigma screams her name.</p><p>There’s a deafening sound. Somebody’s screaming. No, that’s her. <em> Oh. </em>She’s terrified.</p><p>Somethings burning. There’s warmth dragging her forward. And then pain.</p><p>She tries to cry out but she can’t get her voice to work.</p><p>And then she hears a heartbeat. </p><p>There’s a split second where Phi thinks she is dead, then the pain brings her back to reality, And the world looks different, because she’s staring at Sigma’s feet on the ground, and he no longer looks tinted through her eyes.</p><p> “Diana! Phi! Move!” </p><p>She’s never seen fire up close before, but when she looks backward it flares out of the window, singing the tips of her hair. Diana drags her to the side in a last moment of desperation, and <em> Oh, she’s in Diana's arms, but how did she break the window? </em></p><p>It must have been the increased heat and pressure- fire is filling the room. As logical thoughts return to her, she looks back up at Diana’s blue-grey eyes and realizes that she must have pulled her out of the window at the last moment. Everything clicks in her mind at once.</p><p>
  <em> I’m out of the Incinerator. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I’m not going to die. </em>
</p><p>The fire dies down. She’s still in Diana’s arms, being held protectively. Sigma looks at them and he can’t believe what he’s seeing.</p><p>Phi starts crying without knowing why. It took a minute to understand what was happening, but now that she knows, she can’t stop. Sobs into Diana’s shoulder, feels her long hair brushing over her, her gentle, trembling arms on her back. Diana can’t believe it’s real either, she assumes, because she snaps out of it too and she’s crying and saying her name. “Phi. Phi. Phi.” As if she needs proof that she is alive, because it’s not enough to hold the younger girl in her arms in front of her- she must repeat it in her mind again and again and prove her life a thousand times over in her head.</p><p>“I’m alive.” She says, without even thinking her words through. “You’re alive.” She turns back to Sigma like she doesn’t know for sure if he’s dead or not. Sigma’s crying- he never saw him cry, not even way back then.</p><p>“Incineration complete.”</p><p>And Phi says with a sob, “You idiot.” which is the way she usually talks to Sigma. “Diana, I thought you were going to shoot yourself!” She’s angry, but at the same time, she’s alive.</p><p>Diana looks away. “I’m sorry.” </p><p>Sigma approaches them both. He must have been unrestrained from the chair after the fire burned. Everything smells like smoke. But he feels nothing but love. He wraps his arms around the two. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t do anything for the two of you.” <em> I couldn’t do anything but watch.  </em></p><p>They’re all holding each other now, and Phi says through tears, “Shut up.” And Diana cries into her shoulder, and Sigma’s arms are big and warm and loving and protecting them both from the outside world. The love just won’t stop.</p>
<hr/><p>They leave the room, but they linger for a long time before they do. Phi drags her feet to the main room because she’s exhausted. She still can’t believe she’s alive. She collapses on the couch next to Gab.</p><p>She hears Sigma and Diana talking in low voices on the other side of the room. They don’t take her eyes off her, like a pair of doting parents. It’s like if they look away for one minute, she’ll become ashes that blow away in the wind.</p><p>She wraps her arm around Gab and pulls him a little bit closer. </p><p>She hears them argue quietly, trying not to let her hear. But she does.</p><p>“You can’t ever do that again. You have to promise me.” Through half-lidded eyes, Phi can hear the strain in his voice.</p><p>“You don’t understand, Sigma… You and Phi, you were going too…”</p><p>“But that doesn’t mean you resort to something like that!” Sigma shouts at her. “Zero wouldn’t ever <em> listen </em>to you!”</p><p>“I know, I know, I know…” She sounds like she’s on the edge of crying. “But you have to understand, I couldn’t let anything happen to you or Phi.”</p><p>Sigma shakes his head. “From now on, I explore the rooms. I’m going to get out of here and keep you all safe. I won’t take any objections.”</p><p>“Sigma…” Diana trails off. </p><p>“There’s an objection right here.” Says Phi. Gab is in her arms, tongue out and smiling and completely unaware of their conflict.</p><p>“Oh, we thought you were asleep, Phi.” She smiles gently, and Phi feels that unmistakable warmth.</p><p>“You know I can handle myself, Sigma.” She challenges. There’s a certain spark of defiance in her eyes that Sigma knows how to recognize, even if it had been years for him since they played the AB game. It’s instinct. </p><p>“Phi, you almost died in front of me. I can’t let you be put in danger anymore.”</p><p>She knows that this frustration comes from a logical standpoint. There was nothing that made her feel more helpless than having to watch the two of them through that tinted screen. She can’t imagine how Sigma must have felt. But she can’t help challenging him on this.</p><p>“Sigma. If I die here, it isn’t an issue.”</p><p>“Phi!” He shouts, perturbed and angry.</p><p>Diana puts her hands over her mouth. “How could you say that? Of course it would be an issue if you died!”</p><p>“Neither of us can let that happen.” Sigma’s stare is thorough and intense. Unshakable.</p><p>“You know our plan.” Phi’s voice is calm. “Even if I die in this timeline, both of us still inhabit other ones. As long as you and I exist, eventually, we’ll find some way to prevent the outbreak. That’s what we’re here for. That’s why…” Her expression softens, her voice burdened. “I wanted you to let me die in the Incinerator.” </p><p>“That’s enough!” Diana approaches her, putting her hands on her shoulders. “I don’t know anything about you and Sigma’s mission. But…! There aren’t any other futures or histories for me besides the one I have with you two!” She grabs both of Phi’s hands. “It’s not worth your life, Phi! I want you to live!” </p><p>The other girl is startled, her eyes widening under her glasses. Sigma puts a hand on her shoulder. “Diana’s right. Your life is worth more than any mission, Phi. And I’m going to protect the both of you until the end.”</p><p>Gab’s still resting on her lap as she struggles for words. It was easier, before. It was easier when she didn’t have any attachments in the Nonary game besides more of a vitriolic friendship with Sigma that he now barely remembered. It was different before she saw him again and then met Diana, who they immediately connected with. It was different before they spent their days together during the experiments, hanging out with Gab on the couch, eating every meal of the day together, telling stories and joking and laughing. She couldn’t believe she had ever felt so loved.</p><p>Maybe, before now, her existence hadn’t mattered so much.</p><p>Or maybe Diana was trying to tell her that it always did.</p><p>“Thank you,” she whispers. She’s trying not to cry again, with Sigma watching gently.</p><p>“I love you.” Says Diana, and Phi covers her wet eyes with a hand, “I love you both.” </p><p>“See? You cant pretend your life doesn’t matter.” Sigma ruffles a hand through her hair. “Me and Diana love you, Phi.”</p><p>They stay there for a moment and Phi’s never felt so alive.</p><p>It wasn’t as if she was attached to her foster parents. They were kind, but spent so many days on research. There were long days and nights of being alone. But they felt like family inexplicably, without any sort of proof. Being with them made her feel like she had been here all her life. That simply existing with them was what she was born for, meant for, the one thing in life that could really make her happy.</p><p>An announcement blares through Dcom and interrupts her thoughts.</p><p>“Now announcing the current casualties. Q-Team: Q, Mira, Eric. C-Team: Akane. As a result, Four X-passes will be revealed. Eye, Kill, Fool, Hex. That is all.”</p><p>“How horrible.” Diana gasps.</p><p>Phi wipes her shirt with her sleeve. “Why Akane?” She asks.</p><p>“I don’t know,” Sigma responds. “But it’s only a matter of time until we get to six. And I am going to make sure they won’t be one of you two.”</p><p>“But then…” Diana has a sorrowful expression on her face. She’s still holding one of Phi’s hands, and the other girl sincerely hopes she won’t let go. “That means Carlos and Junpei will…”</p><p>Sigma doesn’t respond. He doesn’t want to think about what it means.</p><p>Instead, he looks down at his watch.</p><p>“We don’t have time.” He tells them both.</p><p>Diana squeezes Phi’s hand. “But that means-”</p><p>“The memory drugs.” Phi observes out loud.</p><p>Diana looks upset at this implication. “I don’t want to forget.” She closes her eyes, trying to somehow save the memories in her brain. They saved each other. They worked together. They became even closer. And Zero was going to destroy it, just like that.</p><p>Sigma puts his hand on his forehead. He hadn’t taken the time to think about this due to the relief he’d felt. “Maybe Zero won’t drug us this time?”</p><p>“No, he has no reason not to.” Phi wishes what he was saying was true. “This game has been nothing but consistent so far.”</p><p>They all felt a pang of sadness at that.</p><p>The words are already in her throat, but their shy and reserved. She isn’t used to being cared for by other people, nor has she had experience in expressing it. And so the words come quiet.</p><p>“Can you… Um…” She looks away. Focuses on the warmth of Diana’s hand. </p><p>“What is it, Phi?” It’s like Diana is there to fulfill any of her needs. She’s generous and unjudgemental, always willing to help. There was something infinite about her, and maybe that’s why Sigma looked at her like she was the moon itself.</p><p>“Can you hold me again?” It’s quiet, barely above a whisper. She feels their arms wrap around her. Diana’s hands are in her hair. This was so nice. She loved this so much. And she was going to forget it. All the tiny particles of their warmth. All the fond and comforting things. She didn’t want to go to sleep.</p><p>“I don’t want to forget.” She chokes out.</p><p>“Phi, remember back then?” Sigma begins. “You remembered things from other histories. Maybe, just maybe you could recall this, somewhere down the line.” </p><p>“But it hasn’t happened to me yet.” She responds dismally. <em> Have I not shifted yet, somehow? No, that wouldn’t make sense... </em></p><p>“I wish I could do something to remember. Phi, when you said you loved me, I felt so happy. Like you were family. I don’t want to forget that you said that to me!” Diana sniffs. “Nobody has told me that for a long, long time…The last person who told me that hurt me so terribly.” She wanted to replace those memories with Sigma and Phi. She was so connected to them, and they were so familiar that it felt like they had never been apart. “I want that to be my memory of the last time somebody told me they loved me.”</p><p>“I love you, Diana. I love you.” Phi tells her. Diana pulls her closer. She’s shaking. Diana says it again and again in her head. <em> Don’t forget. Don’t forget. Don’t forget. </em></p><p>
  <em> Phi and Sigma told me they loved me. Phi and Sigma told me they loved me. Phi and Sigma told me they loved me. I’m not alone. I’m not broken. I’m not incapable of love. He didn’t break me.  </em>
</p><p>Again and again, she tells herself she’s loved. As the minutes turn to seconds, she tells herself she’s loved. And when her limbs turn weak, and her muscles cant stay awake she falls back and so do the others. Phi’s head is on her chest and she’s looking at her with a weak smile and Sigma might be the most handsome man she’s ever met and she wants to cry and cherish this. And even if in the end she has to suffer the loss of such a memory she knows that as long as they are in each other’s orbit that she will hear it again one day. Because the love they felt was not a passing sentence, it was truth, and it’s something that with all the forces in the world cannot be forgotten.</p><p>And they all lay down on each other, and Gab stirs and curls up against them. Her mind screams at her to remember as the last thing she sees is the others struggling to do the same. </p><p>They all lose themselves to sleep.</p><p>Phi dreams of fire.</p>
<hr/><p>There’s a heartbeat.</p><p>There’s a moment of warmth.</p><p>Gab is panting, his short and happy breaths felt in the place where he is lying on her back. </p><p>She realizes Diana’s arm is around her. Her legs are on Sigma’s chest. Her face goes red.</p><p>“Perverted old man! Did you set this up!” She yells, sitting up.</p><p>“Huh? Don’t look at me!” He protests, getting up and off the couch.</p><p>“How cute.” Diana chants. “We must have been on the couch and all fallen asleep on each other.</p><p>“It’s not cute!” Phi protests, crossing her arms. “It’s embarrassing! This was definitely Sigma’s plan.” She lifts up Gab, shoving the dog in his face. “Tell me the truth or I’ll sic Gab on you! This is an interrogation.”</p><p>“Phi! Calm down!” He hides behind the leg of the couch. “Anyway, you know I’m a cat person!”</p><p>Diana laughs. Her laugher is so melodic that Phi and Sigma stop joking around. Their just drawn to her indescribable happiness. It’s contagious.</p><p>It kind of feels like the world stops when they look at her. “W-what?” Phi asks, perturbed. </p><p>“Nothing. You just look so happy.” She tells them.</p><p>Phi looks away, face red. “I’m not!” </p><p>And since they haven’t woken in a room, they have all the time to themselves. So they go back to talking and chatting and making a fool of themselves, and the atmosphere is happy and lively, and even Gab’s mouth has parted into a big fuzzy smile. There’s a sense of familiarity in all of this, and Phi wonders why. </p><p><em> Could I have shifted from another history? </em>She wonders briefly. After all, it felt so nostalgic to simply be around them, and she questions if they feel it too.</p><p>“Phi!” She is interrupted by Diana shuffling closer to her. To her confusion, she lifts up her arm before the girl can protest or try to hide.</p><p>“What? Why are you touching me?” Diana looks at her in anger and shock. “Are you kidding? Your burned, Phi!” </p><p>Sigma gasps and immediately looks over at her. The skin looked red. “What the hell…” He finds himself saying out loud. </p><p>“We need to run this under cold water immediately!” The tone of her voice is very accusatory, and she practically drags her to the sink against her will.</p><p> “It doesn’t hurt that bad.” She protests.</p><p>Her hand is forced under the sink, and the cold water is actually quite a relief. She hadn’t even noticed it was injured. Waking up from the drugs makes one very groggy, and it takes a long time to regain your senses. There was no surprise to her in the fact that her sense of pain seemed to idle behind everything else.</p><p>Sigma frowns “It looks bad. How could you have gotten this?”</p><p>With that, she puts a hand on her chin as Diana continues to fuss over her light burns. <em> Injuries don’t carry over from shifting...So… </em></p><p>“Zero made us forget, didn’t he?” Diana tells the two. “I don’t know how you could have gotten this, but I’m very glad you’re safe.”</p><p>“I’m fine.” She tells them. “I was probably in no danger.” She isn’t used to having others fuss over her, but she doesn’t have a choice. She can’t resist when Diana carries her to the couch, tells Sigma to get the first aid kit. Her fingers are so tender, even softer than she could ever expect from such a kind person. </p><p>For most of her life, she had taken care of herself. There was something about submitting to vulnerability that was hard, but with Diana’s gentle voice in her ear and Sigma watching over them both she was capable of letting down her guard. It felt that the two of them were now perhaps the only people that could reach the parts of her heart that contained tenderness. There were some emotions that theories and calculations could not explain. A transfer of energy is not the same as a transfer of fondness.</p><p>After Diana was done, the two encouraged her to rest while they searched for what may have been the source.</p><p>“I assure you, I’m fine!” She protests. “I can search just as well as you two!”</p><p>“It’s better that you rest your arms…” Diana tells her. “They need to recover! Besides, we don’t know what we could find in there.”</p><p>“That’s exactly why I want to come.” She says, and she realizes that they wouldn’t be able to understand the implications of what she said. <em> If anything happens to them, I want to be there. </em></p><p>But there was nothing she could do in her state.</p><p>“You better take care of her, Gab.” Sigma says. He points both of his fingers at his eyes and then points them at the dog, and it reminds Phi way too much of twenty-two year old Sigma, and she laughs.</p><p>“What gives?!” He says, flustered.</p><p>“I was just thinking that some things never changed about you.”</p><p>He rolls his eyes and smiles. “Like I would remember. Come on, Diana.” </p><p>She watches their figures as he escorts her out the door. Sigma is so large, he’s like a mountain compared to Diana, who’s like an asteroid from the moon. It must be the fault of gravity, she thinks, that they always seem so drawn to each other.</p><p>Then Gab lies on her chest, and she can see nothing but white-orange fur, and crankily wishes her hands didn’t hurt so she could use both of them to hug him.</p><p>And the couch is still warm, because there were remnants of when they were there. She remembers when they first woke up together, and Diana and Sigma were so close, and to her that was home. It made her flustered because she was usually well put together, strong-willed and independent, but the thought of being there with them made her grow soft. And she finds herself wishing it was more than just a moment.</p><p>
  <em> I.. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I love you… </em>
</p><p>Her eyes shoot open.</p><p>She looks around the room. Diana isn’t back.</p><p>
  <em> Was that Diana’s voice? </em>
</p><p>“Diana?” She calls out. “Sigma?”</p><p>She swore she just heard them. In her head.</p><p>They were saying that she loved her. <em> Oh god, what’s wrong with me? I already have parents.  </em></p><p>Her hands clenched into the couch. <em> So why am I like this? Why am I hearing them say things they would never say? It’s just wishful thinking, isn’t it? It’s just what I wanted my foster parents to say. </em> Her heart sank.</p><p>It was just a pipe dream. She was only overreacting. After all, she was unexpressive, dry and uncouth and occasionally prickly. There was no way they felt this way about her.</p><p><em> Something must be wrong with me. </em>She thinks, because she can’t stop thinking about Diana’s hands, and how she bandaged her and took care of her and whispered kind words in her ears. She treated her with a tenderness she’d never had the chance to feel. And she wants to go back to the things that can be explained by properties and laws and science. </p><p>There had to be some sequence of numbers, a set of data, something mathematical or hypothetical to explain everything she felt.</p>
<hr/><p>The first thing he saw when he entered the room was the scattered glass on the floor. It was tinted an erratic shade of yellow.</p><p>And the next sight was of burn marks on the edge of the wall near the window. Although Phi’s burns were light, these burns were scorched deep into the metal, disfiguring it.</p><p>Diana’s knees wobbled. “Phi…. Was Phi… Was Phi in there?”</p><p>He wants to answer her, but something else catches his attention. There’s unmistakably a gun on the floor. Picking it up, he observes it carefully, checking the bullets. “It’s never been fired.” He tells Diana, who’s too shocked to respond.</p><p><em> Maybe Zero expected that we’d kill each other if we got in a tense situation. </em> Memories of Phi’s mocking grin after she’s just made fun of him and Diana’s gentle, nostalgic smile settle in his head. His hands tighten around the gun in his hand. <em> He doesn’t know the slightest thing about us. He doesn’t realize that no matter what timeline I’m in, I’d choose my life over theirs any day.  </em></p><p><em> “ </em> Sigma… you should get rid of that horrible thing,” Diana tells him, still shocked by the state of the room. He agrees wholeheartedly and tosses the gun into the incinerator. “It’ll go out next time it burns.” And as he says the word <em> burn, </em>he feels a chill go down his spine, and he knows his heart remembers what his head does not.</p><p>There’s no mistaking the sorrow they both feel. </p><p>There’s no mistaking they almost lost Phi. </p><p>There’s no mistaking it’s a miracle that she’s alive.</p><p>They don’t need any knowledge of timelines to know this. It’s instinct.</p><p>“I’m guessing we broke the window at the last minute. Combined with the heat of the room and the pressure, we were probably able to break through given enough time. Phi’s burns probably weren’t from the fire, but the rush of hot air as the incinerator started up.”</p><p>“It’s too cruel…” Diana says. “I’ve seen burn victims before.” She knows the look of blackened skin, the nauseating smell of burnt flesh that makes her want to vomit. There’s nothing more unimaginably painful of a fate she can think of them having to burn to death. “Their always in so much pain. It’s such a horrible way to die, Sigma.” Tears prick in the corner of her eyes just thinking about it.</p><p>Sigma turns to the back of the room, fury surging through him. “Zero.” He mutters grievously, fists clenched and hands shaking. <em> Unforgivable. </em></p><p>She’s regained her countenance now, and stands up to look at Sigma. “It’s a miracle that she’s alive. It’s a miracle we created together.” </p><p><em> Maybe I took her for granted all this time </em>. After all, the old Phi was a distant memory. But she hadn’t changed. Her laughing, her teasing, her brilliant moments of knowledge, that rare tenderness…</p><p>“I want to protect her,” Diana tells him desperately. “I don’t know why, but I’ve always had this feeling. Ever since we met. I just knew I had to protect her…”</p><p>“Don’t worry. I can do the heavy lifting. I can protect you both on my own.” </p><p>She smiles. “But there are other ways of protecting a person, Sigma.” And Sigma knows.</p><p>That’s when they walk back, and he cant brush the nostalgia of walking by her side. It’s home, and now Phi has become a part of that. </p><p>When they find her, curled up and sleeping, Diana kneels by her side. “Thank you for being alive,” She whispers, and though Phi cannot hear it, Sigma can. And with his heart stirring, he kneels down too and grabs Diana’s hand. It’s just as warm and familiar as he remembers. It’s so tender that he feels his heart is going to overflow. </p><p>And Diana takes out the blue bird music box and lets it play its soft, sweet melody. Suddenly the whole room is filled with the bluebirds song. And Sigma focuses on the warmth of her hand as the song continues to resonate, again and again to the rise and fall of Phi’s chest.</p><p> </p><p>In her dream, she sees fire. It’s blazing, all around her, and she can already feel herself burning. Her voice doesn’t work, cracked and dry from the oppressive heat. She tries to run but her limbs don’t work.</p><p>Then the song plays. The song of the music box. <em> Luna’s </em> music box. It shouldn’t be there, but it is. It belongs forty-five years in the future, but it’s decided to sing its song here. The bluebird steps out of the cage. Through the fire, it lands into her hands.</p><p>She stares down at it. The fire clears away.</p><p>She hears Sigma’s voice. <em> “Happiness flies away just when you think you’ve reached it. </em>”</p><p>As the fire dies down, she sees the silhouettes of Diana and Sigma. Desperately, she extends her hand, reaching for them.</p><p>“Come home, Phi. Dinner’s ready.” Says Diana. She leans down, and Phi realizes shes in the body of a child. Diana picks her up and spins her around. Sigma’s by her side, laughing.</p><p>“We’ll raise you well,” says Sigma. “You’ll live a good life.”</p><p>Her hands clench into Diana’s shirt. What a lie. She can’t even have this. It’s just a dream, after all.</p><p>“You’re lying.” She says, but her voice comes out young and high-pitched.</p><p>“I’m sorry.” A voice that must be her mother’s whispers, “I’m so sorry.” </p><p>She witnesses the flight of the bluebird in the corner of her eyes. <em> What a tragic thing, </em> she thinks, <em> All I could have had. </em></p><p> </p><p>The dream fades to static. </p><p>Her eyes open slowly.</p><p> “Diana?” She asks.</p><p>The girl nods with a smile. She realizes that Sigma and her were holding hands. <em> Oh. </em> What was she supposed to say? She didn’t feel any surprise at all.</p><p>“Don’t worry Phi. Everything’s alright.” Diana reassures her gently.</p><p>“I’ve heard that tune somewhere before.” She says casually, running a hand through Gab’s fur. She looks at Sigma, narrowing her eyes. He looks away, exactly as predicted. “Will you play it again for me?”<em> I want to return to that place.  </em></p><p>“Of course.” She responds gently. There’s a moment of silence where the song flows through the air again. Diana sways back and forth. Sigma puts his hand on his eyes and his shoulders shake.</p><p>Without knowing why, her hands subconsciously reach her brooch and she runs a finger on it. And in Diana’s eyes, she sees Jupiter. And she remembers what it was like to burn. Sigma’s remains are splattered on the chair. A gun against her mother’s forehead. Diana’s hands. Starvation. The blood running down her back. </p><p>The music box stops.</p><p>Phi <em> screams. </em></p>
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